GTjEANINaS IN BEE CULTURE 



October, 1918 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



pers and returned to the hives at the open- 

 ing of buckwheat or other fall flowers. At 

 the ' ' wind up " of the season, some of the 

 partly capped combs may be sold to those 

 who call and can see them, and prefer such at 

 a lower price. Those not sold, or the whole 

 of these partly filled sections, may be car- 

 ried over to good advantage for "bait sec- 

 tions, ' ' as such are very useful in getting 

 the bees at work in the sections at the very 

 earliest opening of the flowers producing 

 our surplus the next season. 



Borodino, N. Y. G. M. Boolittle. 



WINTER PROTECTION in .he ROCKIES 



How It Can be Accomplished at Comparatively 

 Small Cost 



There has been quite an awakening among 

 Colorado beekeepers as to the need of win- 

 ter protection, caused by the heavy losses 

 sustained in the past, and the fact that the 

 Department of Agriculture has, thru its bul- 

 letins and the extension work done by C. E. 

 Bartholomew, carried on quite a campaign 

 of education. Last winter a considerable 

 number of Colorado beekeepers gave their 

 colonies added protection in a variety of 

 ways. Some simply covered the hives with 

 a paper cardboard box, in which they pack- 

 ed straw or shavings between the box and 

 the hive. Others protected their colonies in 

 a more elaborate fashion by putting to- 

 gether the winter packing cases known as 

 the Holtermann case. One apiary was pack- 



ed single, each colony having a shell around 

 it which was filled with straw, and a cover 

 over this shell. Whatever method was used 

 seemed to give fairly satisfactory results. 

 One of the difficulties was that the bee- 

 keepers did not realize the necessity of 

 packing their colonies early. In an apiary 

 belonging to my brother, which he packed 

 last November, the disturbance which the 

 bees received while being packed started 

 brood-rearing, and this continued thru quite 

 a large part of the winter, and so weakened 

 the colonies. However, last spring the few 

 colonies which did breed during the winter 

 seemed to be in pretty fair shape, altho 

 not so strong as those that did not do any 

 breeding. 



The principal point that I notice in win- 

 ter packing in Colorado is that the packed 

 colonies have more honey by 10 to 15 pounds 

 than those left in the open. In fact, it is a 

 detriment to leave the hive full of honey 

 when packed for the winter. It appears 

 that it would be better to take away two or 

 three of the combs of honey, replacing these 

 with good empty brood-combs. In this way 

 the colony will be able to maintain a more 

 comfortable disposition of the bees in the 

 brood-nest. The colonies that were packed 

 last winter were also more uniform in 

 strength; in fact, there were no weak colo- 

 nies at all except those that had poor queens 

 or had contracted foul brood. The protec- 

 tion of the packing case against molestation 

 of bees from cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, etc. 

 is not one of the least imp'ortant features of 

 tlie protection of bees. I believe this one 



Corner View of Case 



Chaff IS useJ for packing mat£>-ia\. 



Extra lomcW banis ma\/ 

 be iUci as mt^ii 



,- Cover exteni\tAg dowu 

 4 inches over ;p-mch band 



10- inch bani 



.-- 3-mch nm nailed to JO-inch 



bat\d anA te\esccping over the 



cK ba"J bere sbowrA 



\nc\\ nm naiUi to \Z-inc\\ 



an^ t£\cs£opm^ over the 



b-mch banJ here ihown 



- Entrance. ~ 



